


Gotham Academy VS Keystone High

by Lwoorl



Series: Dick/Wally week 2019 [4]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, can be read as platonic, dickwallyweek2019, no capes AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 18:55:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19382743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: Wally and Dick's schools face each other at a maths competition.





	Gotham Academy VS Keystone High

**Author's Note:**

> I have literally no idea how interschool competitions work in USA and I couldn't be bothered to actually look it up, I'm just making stuff up based on my own experience and what I've seen in a bunch of movies.

Gotham academy is a  _ labyrinth.  _ How do all these rich kids know where anything is? He just went to the bathroom, that's all he did, and now he can't find his way back to the auditorium. 

There's still an hour left, but at this rate Wally will miss the competition. He could ask for help but… He can  _ feel  _ the way everyone looks at him, he can feel it like mud sticking to the back of his teeth. All these rich kids with their perfect hair and fancy uniforms just see his old jersey and knock off shoes and their expression go cold and disgusted as if watching a cockroach in the kitchen. 

He's half afraid if he so much as approaches one of them some ten foot bodyguard is going to materialize to beat him out. And if it didn't, they might as well just send him in the wrong direction out of spite.

Best to keep looking by himself. How far could it be, anyway?

"You lost, man?" Someone says right beside him, and Wally has to bite his lips not to squeak.

"No, I'm fine." He replies, automatically, before turning towards the voice and finding himself face to face with a magazine cover. 

"You sure?"  _ Richard John Grayson  _ crooks his head to one side, one eyebrow raised. "Because I'm pretty sure I just saw you walk in and out the science building. Twice." 

"I… Uh." Wally mutters uselessly, his mouth forgetting how to work for once.

_ Richard John Grayson  _ looks him up and down, it makes him feel weirdly ashamed, and Wally has to put his arms around himself to cover… Something. 

He's expecting him to be mean, to make fun of his clothes like so many students around here seem to want to. Instead,  _ Richard John Grayson  _ just asks "You must be from Central. Came for the maths competition?" 

"I, uh, yes." 

"I'm actually going there too, why don't you follow me?"  _ Richard John Grayson  _ points towards what Wally supposes is the right direction, an infomercial smile on his face. And Wally can't help but to nod. "Great. Ah, my name's Dick."  _ Richa-  _ Dick holds up a hand as if he needed any introduction and Wally distractedly shakes it. 

"I- Wally." 

"Nice to meet you, Wally." 

It's not until they already started walking that his brain processes the exchange. He turns towards the boy and says "Wait. You seriously call yourself Dick?" 

He's rewarded with a light chuckle and an expression a bit more real than the infomercial smiles, less polished, with more teeth. Cute. "Man, where have I heard that before?" 

They fall into an easy conversation after that, the tension of  _ I'm talking with a literal celebrity  _ mostly gone once he realizes Dick's just like any normal kid. 

"So you're actually competing?" He finds himself asking at some point.

"Yup. Why?"

"I just thought you were more the athletic kind of guy. Weren't you an acrobat or something?"

"The best there is." He flashes a smile and does a totally unnecessary headstand, the tip of his tie falling onto his nose.

"Show off." He tells him. Dick takes three steps on his hands before standing upright. "That doesn't answer my question though. Why a mathathlete?"

"It's actually pretty funny." He says as he passes his hands over his hair, putting it back in place. Or trying, anyway. "I had a bet with a friend, Barbara, and the loser joined the maths team for a year."

"And you lost."

"We  _ both  _ lost actually." He shrugs "So we both got in and it turned out I honestly liked it, so I stayed after that."

"How do both people lose a bet? What was it even about?" 

"Long story. Anyway, what about you, why did you become a nerd?"

Wally punches him lightly on the shoulder. Dick returns the punch. "Well, I was always kind of a science nerd and my uncle insisted I joined a club or something. Besides, it seemed fun."

"You really see some guys solving math problems and think 'Oh, yes, that seems like fun' don't you?"

"Hey, you're in this too!" 

"That isn't helping your case, man." 

And so on. By the time they get to the auditorium both are laughing while talking about movies and pushing each other to see who trips first. 

It's weird, the way he and Dick just… Click. 

Wally isn't afraid of meeting new people, but he also isn't the kind of person to warm up to strangers so quickly. With Dick though, it's easy to feel at ease and just act like himself, say whatever, make fun, etc. It's specially weird because he's a  _ damn famous person, _ and yet he finds himself mostly forgetting about that fact after exchanging a couple of sentences. 

"Good luck, you'll need it." Dick smirks at him when they have to start getting ready for the match. All self confidence and competitivity. 

"Oh, we will see." He shots back, a twin smile on his face. Because apparently they just found another thing they have in common; Neither of them likes to lose.  

He goes back with his team, they talk strategy and get ready. Both teams have each one a table, with a red button, white paper, pencils and all. People enter the theater, the lights go on, the presenter reads the first question and he freezes. 

It's not Wally's first competition, far from it. But he's never done it in a place this big, or with so many people watching. Because obviously everything in Gotham Academy has to be over the top. 

He just looks to the crowd like a moron for a minute or so, and a member of his team has to shove him on the shoulder to get him back on the game. With unsteady hands he starts writing numbers on his sheet, and he's only halfway through writing the first equation when the other team gives the answer. 

When he looks up, Dick's frowning at him like he's worried and Wally grimaces, wanting to hide his face in his hands in embarrassment. 

As the competition continues he starts getting a better hold of it, doodling a bit in a corner of the paper between questions to calm down. 

"We will take a short break!" The announcer exclaims, people start leaving the auditorium and the rest of his team start talking about getting lunch. He hits his head against the table and sighs. 

"You ok?"

Raising his face he sees Dick standing next to the table, a wrinkle on the skin between his eyes. 

"I'm fine." He tries to smile. 

"You sure? You look a bit pale."

"Just got some nervous." He admits. "I'm used to doing this thing in a classroom, not this whole…" He gestures around him. "Thing."

"Heh, yeah, I get it." Dick leans against the table, half sitting on the edge.  _ "Rich people's scary." _

Wally snorts. "You are rich people!"

"Hey, you offend me." He places a hand on his chest. Wally cooks an eyebrow and Dick rolls his eyes. "Oh, you know what I mean."

"I guess so." He admits. He isn't sure if it's because he was adopted or what, but Dick doesn't feel like the other students. He's, well, nice. He doesn't look at him like his mere presence is an insult, and is easy to talk to, couldn't be more different from the cold glares from before.

"My first month here I felt like pushed into a shark tank." He starts to say, pushing himself up so he's properly sitting on the table. "And I was wearing their same uniform. I can only imagine how you're holding up."

"Feeling naked, mostly." He sighs again. "I'm fine now though, just needed to get used to it." 

"Yeah?" Dick asks, tapping his knuckles against Wally's shoulder. 

"Yeah." he assures, imitating the gesture. 

"Wanna get lunch?" He looks at his watch. "We have like forty minutes." 

"Oh God, yes please." 

Dick buys him a sandwich more expensive than his entire allowance and they sit at the cafeteria to keep talking about whatever. Wally doesn't even pay attention to the ugly looks nailing themselves on the back of his neck, too busy laughing like a moron as he is, and by the time they have to go back to the match and they turn on the lights he thinks he finally got a hold of it.

The second half goes way better. Having finally surpassed the initial nervousness, he answers easily to the first three questions, before Dick steals the forth, and soon the entire competition turns into a match between the two of them, smiling widely to one another, the rest of their teams barely giving any contribution. 

They lose, because really there was no way they could recuperate after that disastrous first half, but he finds himself not really caring about it. 

"Good game." He says, as he shakes Dick's hand once it's over. 

"Same thing." 

He moves to leave the stage, so they can give the trophy to the winners, when Dick stops him. "Wally, wait." 

He barely has time to react as Dick hurriedly puts a piece of paper in his hand, folded in six. And then he's walking down the stairs.

He doesn't see Dick after that, he wanted to, but his team is pretty much shoved into the bus after the formalities are over, like the entire school was just waiting for the thing to end to kick the peasants out. 

He's sitting at the back, his breath leaving fog on the window, wondering if they will meet again when he puts his hands into his pockets and feels the paper there. He takes it out and opens it, it's filled with math problems. 

He frowns, thinking Dick just gave him his trash, when he turns it around and looks at the other side. 

Between equations and eraser stains, circled twice, are a phone number and a Gmail address. 

He has to bite his lips not to smile. 

Wally takes out his phone and quickly writes a text, too impatient to wait until he gets home.

**Hey, this is Wally**

It doesn't even take two minutes before he gets a reply. 

**Hi wally! this is dick 😉**

**Author's Note:**

> As always please remember to comment!!!! 💖💖💖


End file.
